Earth Hour – An Environmental Turn Off?

So it was Earth Hour this weekend and apparently the UAE did pretty well at turning off.

According to a 7Days article that ran today, Dubai set a new record this year, “turning off the equivalent of 10 million light-bulbs”. I think this is ruddy brilliant, but it seems as though some others are not quite as convinced.

“I say whoever coined this term needs a kick up their — ya’ all know what I mean here — for it is THE most absurd of all theories for preserving/conserving our natural resources. Shutting down for an hour every year just for the sake of shutting down to prove oneself hip and attuned to world affairs is also not the right way to do it.” – Kyle

Kyle seems to make a fair point. Earth Hour does seem to trivialize and condescend a pretty important issue. But I think we can stand to learn a lot from our good friend Murphy –

“If it’s stupid but works, it’s not stupid.” – Murphy’s Laws of War

Yes Earth Hour is trendy, annoyingly hip and somewhat stupid. But this is exactly what we need. We need something that will change ‘being green’ from something for penny-pinching grannies and hippy vegan chicks to something for everybody.

Earth Hour is proving itself to be precisely that vehicle. Elitism has no place in environmentalism, we’re all in this together and need to work together despite how ‘hip’ it may be.

The Guff is what it is: “trivial, worthless, or insolent talk or ideas.” The Guff will do what it needs to do to be what it needs to be. The Guff will show itself whenever and however it likes to and won’t be restrained to calendars of its own creation. ... Continue reading →

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